The Book Thief

[baumer]

Discuss

[baumer]

Either I'm easy to please or about 95% of the movies I've seen in the last two months are really very good.  You can add The Book Thief to my list of impressive films.  A very moving interpretation of the famed novel is anchored solidly by a mesmerizing, stunning performance by Emily Watson. While she is aided by a wonderful turn by Geoffrey Rush, it is Watson who is simply stunning.  Keep in mind this is the same woman who was Adam Sandler's love interest in Punch Drunk Love.  In this film, she looks to have gained about 30-40 pounds to play an older German woman, tough as the salt of the Earth but terrified of the surroundings she finds herself in.  There are scenes she has with her and the child and with Rush that were simply stunning and it gives the film the sheer power that I had heard about.  This film comes as advertised. 

 

Also stunning in performance is young Liesel, played played Sophie Neliesse.  She anchors the film as the story is told through her eyes.  Seeing WW2 and the Holocaust told through a child's eyes is different and at times, this film was a little more powerful than films like Pianist and Schindler's List.  I really believe both actors deserve Oscar nominations but if I had to have just one, it would be for Watson.  She simply disappears into the role. 

 

The Book Thief is about a girl living through the Holocaust and how words help her cope and how they set her free.  Sappy?  Maybe.  But true nonetheless.  Young Liesel doesn't know how to read at first but as she borrows books from a rich family in the area, little by little she teaches herself how to read very well until, at times, she becomes the savior of the small village on the nights they are being bombed in the not so near distance.  She regales the terrified people with stories of her dead brother as a ghost and how she can still visit him through the power of word and imagination.

 

The Book Thief really touched me and it was partly the story that did this but it was absolutely because of the performances by Watson and Neliesse.

 

If for no other reason, this film is worth seeing if only to witness another incredibly beautiful performance by Emily Watson and to watch a truly gifted actor add another triumph to her majestic career.

 

9/10

[Films]

This was such an amazing and inspirational film. Fantastic performances from Nelisse, Watson (both of who deserved to be Oscar nominated), Rush and the boy who played Rudi just to name a few. Can someone please explain to me why this did not get Oscar nominations in the big categoryA+ (best film of 2014 so far)

Edited April 9, 2014 by FrozenFilms